Turbocharger apparatus having an exhaust gas sealing system for preventing gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus

ABSTRACT

Turbocharger apparatus ( 1 ) comprising a housing ( 4 ), a compressor mounted for rotation in the housing ( 4 ), a turbine ( 40 ) mounted for rotation in the housing ( 4 ), a first inlet ( 39 ) for enabling air to be conducted to the compressor, an outlet ( 36 ) for enabling air from the compressor to be conducted to an engine, a second inlet ( 53 ) for enabling exhaust gases from the engine to be conducted to the turbine ( 40 ) in order to rotate the turbine ( 40 ), a chamber ( 96 ) which surrounds the turbine ( 40 ) and which receives the exhaust gases from the second inlet ( 53 ) before the exhaust gases are conducted to the turbine ( 40 ), a bearing assembly ( 82 ) for permitting the rotation of the turbine ( 40 ), and a control system ( 5, 10 ) for controlling the speed of the turbine ( 40 ), the control system ( 5, 10 ) having an exhaust gas sealing system ( 8, 21, 26 ) for preventing exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus ( 1 ), and the exhaust gas sealing system ( 8, 21, 26 ) being such as to allow expansion of parts within the exhaust gas sealing system ( 8, 21, 26 ) when the turbocharger apparatus ( 1 ) is working at high temperatures.

This invention relates to turbocharger apparatus and, more especially, this invention relates to turbocharger apparatus having an exhaust gas sealing system for preventing gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus. By preventing gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus, all of the exhaust gases from an engine may be treated by the exhaust system after-treatment apparatus, for example by a catalyst system and/or a particulate system.

Turbocharger apparatus is known comprising a housing, a compressor mounted for rotation in the housing, a turbine mounted for rotation in the housing, a first inlet for enabling air to be conducted to the compressor, an outlet for enabling air from the compressor to be conducted to an engine, a second inlet for enabling exhaust gases from the engine to be conducted to the turbine in order to rotate the turbine, a chamber which surrounds around the turbine and which receives the exhaust gases from the second inlet before the exhaust gases are conducted to the turbine, a bearing assembly for permitting the rotation of the turbine, and a control system for controlling the speed of the turbine.

One of the problems with such known turbocharger apparatus is that there is exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus. This exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus causes a problem because the exhaust gases that manage to leak by the turbocharger apparatus have not been treated by the exhaust gas after-treatment apparatus that may be fitted to a vehicle having the turbocharger apparatus.

The problem of gas leakage in a turbocharger is difficult to solve because of the high temperature change under which the turbocharger apparatus has to work. This temperature may exceed 1000° C., so that the control systems that have to work within the turbine housing of the turbocharger apparatus have to be designed to have a working clearance, so that parts do not seize when the turbocharger apparatus is working at the high temperatures. The working clearance allows some exhaust gases to leak by the turbine housing control systems or a control system in the bearing housing assembly.

It is an aim of the present invention to obviate or reduce the above mentioned problems.

Accordingly, in one non-limiting embodiment of the present invention there is provided turbocharger apparatus comprising a housing, a compressor mounted for rotation in the housing, a turbine mounted for rotation in the housing, a first inlet for enabling air to be conducted to the compressor, an outlet for enabling air from the compressor to be conducted to an engine, a second inlet for enabling exhaust gases from the engine to be conducted to the turbine in order to rotate the turbine, a chamber which surrounds the turbine and which receives the exhaust gases from the second inlet before the exhaust gases are conducted to the turbine, a bearing assembly for permitting the rotation of the turbine, and a control system for controlling the speed of the turbine, the control system having an exhaust gas sealing system for preventing exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus, and the exhaust gas sealing system being such as to allow expansion of parts within the exhaust gas sealing system when the turbocharger apparatus is working at high temperatures.

The turbocharger apparatus of the present invention may be for example, variable geometry turbocharger apparatus or waste gated turbocharger apparatus. The high temperatures may be in excess of 1000° C.

The turbocharger sealing system may operate to allow for different expansion rates so to seal gases at the high temperatures.

The turbocharger apparatus may be one in which the control system that controls the speed of the turbocharger has a control rod. This control rod may have the exhaust gas sealing system so to prevent exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus. The control rod may exit through the turbine housing or through the bearing housing assembly.

The turbocharger apparatus may include a bush for the control rod. The bush may be mounted in the turbine housing. Alternatively the bush may be mounted in the bearing housing assembly.

The turbocharger apparatus may be one in which the sealing system uses a spring to put preload onto parts within the turbocharger apparatus to create a sealing means and thereby to prevent exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus.

The turbocharger apparatus may be one in which the spring is mounted on the outside of the turbocharger apparatus so to prevent heat soak to the spring.

The turbocharger apparatus may be one in which the spring is a coil type spring. The spring may be of a design which prevents rotation of the spring in order to prevent wear of the spring. Alternatively the spring may be of a disc design, or other types of spring may be used. Generally, the spring can be any suitable spring means.

The turbocharger apparatus may be one in which a spring is used to put spring load onto parts within the turbocharger apparatus in order to create a sealing means to prevent exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus.

The turbocharger apparatus may be one in which a spring is used to put spring load onto a control lever in order to create a rotational movement of the control lever, in order to maintain a smooth low frictional movement of the moving parts within the turbocharger apparatus.

The turbocharger apparatus may include wear washers for to preventing wear of parts within the turbocharger when working at very high temperature. The wear may lead to seizure of the parts. If desired, the wear washers may additionally form sealing means in order to prevent gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus.

The turbocharger apparatus may be one in which the wear washers are prevented from rotation on the parts on which they are mounted, so that the wear washers rotate against each other in order to prevent wear of parts within the turbocharger apparatus. The wear washers are preferably made of a ceramic material. Other materials may however be employed.

The turbocharger apparatus may be one in which the sealing system prevents gas leakage past the wear washers.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described solely by way of example and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a part section of turbocharger apparatus showing part of a turbine housing with an exhaust gas sealing system;

FIG. 2 shows a turbine housing assembly with a control assembly for a waste gated type of turbocharger with the exhaust gas sealing system;

FIG. 3 shows a turbine housing assembly with a control assembly of a sliding piston type of turbocharger, with the exhaust gas sealing system;

FIG. 4 shows a variable nozzle turbine (VNT) type turbocharger assembly with the exhaust gas sealing system;

FIG. 5 shows a VNT type turbocharger assembly with the exhaust gas sealing system using a different spring design;

FIG. 6 shows sealing system with disc spring system and wear washers;

FIG. 7 shows wear washers with retaining holes to prevent rotation of the wear washers;

FIG. 8 shows wear washers of a different design to the designs shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a section through a pair of wear washers;

FIG. 10 is a top view of the lowermost wear washer shown in FIG. 9;

FIG. 11 is a cross-section like FIG. 9 but shows a further design of wear washers; and

FIG. 12 is a top plan view of the lowermost wear washer shown in FIG. 11.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, there is shown waste gated turbocharger apparatus 1 comprising a turbine housing 4 with a control rod 5 in bush 8, and a spring 7 between the bush 8 and a control lever 10.

Also shown are wear washers 21 and 26 and waste gate 31. FIG. 2 also shows an actuator control 28, a turbine 40, an exhaust exit chamber 52, and second inlet 53.

When exhaust gas enters through the second inlet 53 into the volute in the turbine housing 4, the exhaust gases rotate the turbine wheel 40. The turbine wheel speed is controlled by opening the waste gate 31. This is done by rotating the control rod 5 by movement from control lever 10. The exhaust gases then bypass the turbine 40. The gases that have passed through the turbine wheel 40 and the waste gate 31 enter into the exit chamber 52 where they are forced into the exhaust system. The sealing system prevents exhaust gases from leaking from the turbocharger apparatus and has been designed so exhaust gases do not leak past the bush 8 so all of the exhaust gases may be treated by the exhaust after-treatment system. It must be remembered that the temperature of the turbine housing 4 can be over 1000° C. and so the design has to work when the parts have expanded due to high temperature, and prevent gas leakage, and control the wear of moving parts. This has been done by putting a spring load between the control rod 5 and the bush 8 so an end of the bush 8 and control rod 5 may be sealed. The spring 7 is mounted on the outside of the turbocharger apparatus 1 in order to prevent heat soak to spring 7. Wear washers 21, 26 have been positioned between the control rod 5 and bush 8. These wear washers may be made of a material that can withstand very high temperature, and have low wear rates and corrosion resistant, such as ceramics. One problem with these materials is that the expansion rates are sometimes different from the materials that are used within other parts of the turbocharger, and so the design has to allow for different expansion rates in order to prevent gas leakage. The wear washers should be prevented from rotation on the parts that they are mounted on. In order to solve this problem, a square hole may be used in the bore of the wear washers. This locates on a square section of the bush 8 and on the control rod 5. The spring 7 compensates for wear and different expansion rates in the system, as well as preventing exhaust gas leakage.

In FIG. 3, the wear washers 21, 26 also prevent wear on a fork 70 and a bush 8. In FIG. 4 the wear washers 21, 26 also prevent wear on a lever 23 and the bush 8. When the control rod 5 rotates, the control rod only has to rotate up to about 20° so when a coil spring is used this movement is taken up in the coil of the spring so the spring does not rotate.

Referring now to FIG. 3-8, there is shown in FIG. 3 a variable turbocharger apparatus 2 of a sliding piston design whereby the piston (not shown) slides over the turbine wheel 40 in order to control the speed of the turbine wheel 40. A fork 70 may be used to move the piston. FIG. 3 shows that the same type of sealing system as in FIG. 1 may be used with this type of variable turbocharger design.

FIG. 4 shows VNT type variable turbocharger apparatus 3 whereby exhaust gases are prevented from leaking from the turbocharger apparatus.

FIG. 4 shows VNT type turbocharger apparatus 3 with a first inlet 39, a compressor housing 91, a bearing assembly 82, a oil inlet 78, and an oil outlet 79. Also shown are a turbine housing 4, a turbine 40, a control lever 10, a control rod 5, bush 8, a spring 7, and an inner control lever 23, with control ring 55, and vanes 58, with volute 96, and a sealing plate 18.

When the exhaust gases pass through the volute 96 of the turbine housing 4 of the VNT turbocharger apparatus 3, the gases pass over the vanes 58 that are mounted within the turbine housing 4. These vanes 58 rotate to control the gas flow to the turbine 40. This in turn controls the speed of the turbine 40.

The control of the vanes is by movement of the control lever 10. This rotates the control rod 5 in the bush 8 to position the inner control lever 23. The inner control level 23 is mounted in a slot in the control ring 55 which rotates when movement is applied to the inner control lever 23. This in turn moves a lever (not shown) that is mounted on the end of the vane shaft 42. This rotates the vanes 58.

The volute chamber 96 is sealed in order to try and prevent gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus as can be seen with seal plate 18. However, one of the problems with the VNT type turbocharger apparatus is exhaust gas leakage past the vanes along the vane shaft 42 into chamber 19. This allows exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus. In order to prevent this leakage, the same type of seal design as shown in the turbocharger apparatus of FIG. 1 and the turbocharger apparatus 2 of FIG. 3 may be used.

FIG. 5 shows VNT type turbocharger apparatus as shown in FIG. 4, with the same numbers as shown in FIG. 4, except where the turbocharger apparatus in FIG. 4 uses a coil type spring 7, the spring in FIG. 5 is a disc type spring 15. This type of spring helps prevent leakage.

FIG. 6 shows a sealing system using the disc spring 15.

FIG. 7 shows two different alternative designs for the wear washers 21 and 26. These may be used in the sealing system. The square hole in one design and the slot in the other design are set into the bore of the wear washers so to prevent rotation of the wear washers when they are mounted on the control rod 5 and/or the bush 8.

FIG. 8 shows a third design for the wear washers 21, 26 where the wear washer is located in a slot to prevent rotation.

Referring to FIGS. 9 and 10, there are shown two wear washers 100, 102. The wear washer 102 has a reduced diameter portion 104. The reduced diameter portion 104 engages the wear washer 100 and gives less friction between the two wear washers 100, 102 than would be the case if the entire adjacent surface of the wear washer 102 engaged the adjacent surface of the wear washer 100.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show two wear washers 106, 108 in which the wear washer 106 is provided with a chamfered portion 110. The wear washer 108 is provided with a complementary portion 112 which may be a chamfer or radius. Contact between the two portions 110, 112 may give a reduced frictional contact area than would be the case if the two wear washers 106, 108 engaged each other over their entire adjacent surfaces.

In FIGS. 1-12, a turbocharger sealing systems are shown for preventing exhaust gas leakage from turbocharger apparatus that can work under extreme temperature conditions, and the turbocharger sealing system is able to adjust for wear within the turbocharger apparatus.

It is to be appreciated that the embodiments of the invention described above with reference to the accompanying drawings have been given by way of example only and that modifications may be effected. Thus, for example, due to the location of the sealing system on the VNT turbocharger apparatus, where the sealing system is better protected from heat, the wear washers may be of a different design, e.g. only one washer may be used or the sealing may be done without washers. Other types of springs may be used. 

1. Turbocharger apparatus comprising a housing, a compressor mounted for rotation in the housing, a turbine mounted for rotation in the housing, a first inlet for enabling air to be conducted to the compressor, an outlet for enabling air from the compressor to be conducted to an engine, a second inlet for enabling exhaust gases from the engine to be conducted to the turbine in order to rotate the turbine, a chamber which surrounds the turbine and which receives the exhaust gases from the second inlet before the exhaust gases are conducted to the turbine, a bearing assembly for permitting the rotation of the turbine, and a control system for controlling the speed of the turbine, the control system having an exhaust gas sealing system for preventing exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus, and the exhaust gas sealing system being such as to allow expansion of parts within the exhaust gas sealing system when the turbocharger apparatus is working at high temperatures.
 2. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 1 and comprising a rotating control rod that is spring loaded such as to form a sealing means in order to prevent exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus.
 3. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 2 in which the rod is spring loaded so to adjust for wear within the sealing system.
 4. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 2 in which the rotating control rod is spring loaded such that the spring is mounted on the outside of the turbocharger apparatus in order to prevent heat soak to the spring.
 5. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 2 in which the control rod is spring loaded such that the spring is mounted between a control lever for the control rod and a bush for the control rod.
 6. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 1 in which a spring is used to put spring load onto parts within the turbocharger apparatus in order to create a sealing means to prevent exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus.
 7. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 2 in which the control rod is such that the control rod forms a seal against the bush in order to prevent exhaust gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus.
 8. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 1 in which wear washers are used to prevent wear in the sealing system at high temperature.
 9. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 8 in which the wear washers form sealing means in order to prevent gas leakage from the turbocharger apparatus.
 10. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 8 in which wear washers are prevented from rotation on the parts on which they are mounted in order to allow the washers to work against each other and to prevent wear.
 11. Turbocharger apparatus according to claim 1 in which a spring is used to put spring load onto a control level in order to create a rotational movement of the control lever, in order to maintain a smooth low frictional movement of moving parts within the turbocharger apparatus. 